Trump publicly acknowledges Russia probe includes him

But it was released shortly after The Washington Postreported - citing unnamed United States officials familiar with the matter - that the business dealings of President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, are being investigated by Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller, who has been investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election and the Trump administration's potential ties to Russia.

"As a matter of honor, and in light of his sworn testimony before Congress, Rosenstein would inevitably resign if confronted with a White House directive to dismiss the special counsel".

In recent days, Trump surrogates have questioned how Mueller can lead the probe given he is friends with Comey.

In a series of tweets, Trump lashed out against the investigation into whether his campaign colluded with Russian Federation to influence the 2016 election.

The special counsel's investigators have sought information from Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats as well as National Security Agency Director Adm. Mike Rogers and they have pursued information from Richard Ledgett, the recently retired NSA deputy director, according to a source in the CNNreport. Trump has been dismissive of congressional and criminal probes of Russian interference in the election, saying they were an excuse by Democrats to explain their stunning upset loss to him. Still, the snowballing investigation has deeply angered Trump, who denies he has any nefarious ties to Russian Federation.

According to the report, senators want to know if Trump acted improperly when he allegedly fired Comey to influence an investigation into Russia's hacking of the 2016 US election. Comey testified that Trump directed him in February to drop an FBI investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn relating to the Russian Federation matter.

All of which necessarily brings us back to Rod Rosenstein. Rosenstein, of course, is now the highest-ranking Justice Department official who's overseeing Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Trump-Russia ties.

Comey told lawmakers last Thursday that he has concluded he was sacked in part because he refused to drop the FBI's investigation of Trump's campaign adviser and first national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. He may actually be a witness in the investigation he is supposed to supervise and like Sessions will be compelled by legal ethics to assume a seat on the sidelines.

However, the Justice Department spokesman Ian Prior said Friday Rosenstein sees no reason at this point to recuse himself, however, adding, "As the deputy attorney general has said numerous times, if there comes a point when he needs to recuse, he will".